Expenditures of the Russo-Japanese war / by Gotaro Ogawa.

24 EXPENDITURES OF THE RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR

zone and the advice to surrender sent by our besieging army,
a general attack was opened on August I9. The enemy was
provided with all possible means of defense and the besiegers
had to fight for every inch of ground. They at last succeeded
in securing the east and west batteries of Panlungshan.
Meanwhile fire had started in the town of Port Arthur from
the bombardment by the Japanese Navy. The fortress of
Port Arthur, constructed in positions of natural advantage
and with the highest art of modern engineering, had been
reputed impregnable and the Japanese force failed to make
such progress as was contemplated. Accordingly, our army
changed its method of attack and took to digging zigzag lines
for troops to march through. On the completion of these
engineering works, a second general attack was opened on
September I9. Our army fought throughout the night and
wrested from the enemy the Kropatkin fort, a part of the
battery south of Shuishihying and the I74-Metre Hill, in
succession. The Japanese made assaults on the 203-Metre
Hill from three sides and kept up the struggle for three consecutive days and nights, only to fail in their attempt. But
our investing force never relaxed its pressure upon the Russians and repulsed their frequent sorties, taking on October
I6 the forts on the sides of Hachimakiyama (Japanese name)
and Erhlungshan. Meanwhile our army, in cooperation with
the navy, fired on the Russian ships lying in the port. On
October 26, the Japanese force tried a third general attack
and made a violent onslaught upon the enemy, with the support of the naval guns, capturing Sungshushan and Erhlungshan. On the 29th, our troops recovered the trenches south
of Hachimakiyama, which had been retaken by the enemy,
and on the following day took a fresh battery. On November
29 the Japanese Army reopened its assaults on the 203-Metre
Hill, the heart of Port Arthur. Our forlorn hope rendered repeated rushes useless until the next day, when the assaults
finally took effect and the hill fell completely into our hands
at eight o'clock in the evening. The enemy made a violent
counter-attack, however, and the Japanese fought desperately